Monday, November 29, 2010

Spiced Cider

As the days turn colder and the season barrels full-speed toward Christmas, you may want something warm to drink after a hard day of playing in the snow, cutting down a Christmas tree, or napping on the couch. Enter: hot spiced cider!

 First, you'll need apple juice, preferably something with such an ingredient list as: "Apples, water." (I.e. not from a can.)


Pour your apple juice into a saucepan and add the following spices:

Cinnamon sticks


Whole cloves


Freshly grated nutmeg


And a dash of cardamom. Go easy on this stuff; it's a potent flavor.


Then, just turn on a low heat and let the cider heat up and steep, infusing all those holiday flavors into your cider as well as kitchen and the entirety of your oddly shaped long apartment. For a holiday party, pour into a Crockpot on low to keep it warm. Just remember to fish out the cloves and cinnamon before serving! A clove is not a sufficient snack.
Spirits, such as AppleJack, rum or Buttershots, added to the cider make it especially festive.

Merry ChrisKwanzaaKuh!

3 comments:

Dr. Powell said...

How would you say the flavor is different (better?) than the spiced cider one can obtain from Trader Joes? I was just thinking that if I am to go there to buy the apple juice, then I wonder how their spiced cider compares... obviously me being one to purchase foods rather than make them if the price is comparable. Am I compromising flavor in doing so?

VCK said...

Doc,
Cookie Monster and I did a taste test to determine the answer to this very question. While TJ's cider is highly solid, the mulling imparts more spice and therefore a brighter, bolder flavor, probably because the spices were a bit fresher. Also probably because we used more spice in general than Joe.

erica said...

wow this looks absolutely wonderful. I love hot cider. Thanks so much for sharing. I am your newest follower

xo